David Greenfield, chief executive officer of Met Council, believes that nonprofit leaders have a choice when it comes to artificial intelligence: learn how to use it or risk being left behind.
“We’re the first organization in the country that’s told our staff we’re not going to lay anyone off because of AI,” he told JNS. “We believe that AI should be used to help people. It should be human-centered, and it really should be a tool rather than a replacement.”
Greenfield, who leads the largest U.S. Jewish nonprofit that fights poverty, spoke to JNS after a June 4 artificial intelligence summit hosted by the Met Council and the Robin Hood Foundation. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed him to a new artificial intelligence FutureWorks Commission, which is tasked with advising the state on its response to the impact artificial intelligence has on the workforce and economy.
He told JNS that nonprofits must learn to harness AI while ensuring it remains a tool for workers rather than replacing them.
Met Council is training employees in AI, paying staff two hours per week to learn the technology and providing each department with an AI budget to experiment with new tools, Greenfield said.
He told JNS that the organization recently developed a digital food pantry that uses artificial intelligence to predict demand and route deliveries and an in-house intake bot named “Reggie” that helps connect clients with the appropriate Met Council department, whether they are seeking food assistance, senior housing, domestic violence services or Holocaust survivor support.
“Everything that we’re doing really has three things in common,” he told JNS. “Number one, it’s focused on improving the client experience. We have to be competitive the same way for-profit businesses are, and we want to make sure our clients are being handled faster, that they’re happy and getting the best experience they can get.”
Greenfield told JNS that the Met Council also operates with an understanding that “there’s always humans in the loop.”
“We’re not relying on technology to make decisions,” he said. “These are people’s lives that we’re dealing with.”
If people lost their jobs, were abused by spouses or are homeless, Met Council will not rely on technology to make decisions about how to help them, according to Greenfield.
“We’re going to rely on technology to assist us,” he told JNS.
The June 4 event, held in Lower Manhattan, brought together more than 100 nonprofit executives to learn how the technology can be used in their organizations.
Attendees, including leaders from Commonpoint Queens, the Hispanic Federation and UJA-Federation of New York, heard from panelists and participated in hands-on workshops on using AI tools to address challenges facing their groups.
Greenfield told JNS that the technology has allowed the Met Council to expand its reach this year from 325,000 people to more than 350,000 without adding to staff members’ workload.
“Nobody went to social work school for six years to become a social worker, so they could spend five of 10 hours a day filling out paperwork,” he said. “That’s not what they want to do.”
“To the extent that we can get rid of the paperwork, get rid of the bureaucracy and really focus on the issues that matter, we’re able to make it a better experience for our staff,” he told JNS.
‘Humans back into the AI conversation’
Hochul invited him to join the commission after noticing his AI-focused work at the Met Council, according to Greenfield.
One of the panel’s main goals is to “put the people and the humans back into the AI conversation,” he said. “I think it’s very important that we protect individuals’ jobs and their autonomy.”
“Ideas like universal basic income are not good ideas,” he told JNS. “The idea that we’re going to pay you $1,000 to stay home for the rest of your life is a terrible idea.”
“People want to wake up in the morning. They want to have something to do,” he added. “They want to be part of a society. They want to feel like they’re accomplishing things.”
Tom Perez, a former U.S. labor secretary, co-chairs the commission with Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of TIAA, and Molly Kinder, of Brookings Institution.
Its first meeting is scheduled for the coming weeks, according to Greenfield.
At the event, he told attendees that his fear that artificial intelligence will concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a small number of technology companies “keeps him up at night.”
“It keeps me up as a concern about equality and equity,” he said. “I really think they’re creating a society where a quarter of 1% is going to amass all of the wealth and then all of the power.”
“They’re literally telling everybody. They’re not even being shy about it,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘We’re gonna take away your jobs. We’re gonna give you $1,000 a month. Just stay at home and be happy, be fortunate to live in our AI utopia.’”
Greenfield, who has worked for years to help New Yorkers facing financial hardship, said that lately, more and more of those seeking assistance are in their 20s—a shift he attributes in part to artificial intelligence.
“We’re an organization that’s been around for over 50 years,” he said. “It used to be that most of the people who called us were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. We’re getting calls from people in their 20s now who can’t find jobs, who need help, who need SNAP.” (The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was previously known as “food stamps.”)
“That’s crazy,” he told JNS. “That’s never happened before.”
Many recent college graduates are struggling to find entry-level work as companies increasingly turn to AI, according to Greenfield.
“We have college-educated students who have graduated and can’t find jobs,” he told JNS. “A lot of that is due to AI and the fact that AI is fast replacing entry-level work.”
“That’s not good for society. That’s not good for humans. That’s not good for any of us,” he said. “I think we have to push back, and I think one of the ways to push back is to model how we use AI for good.”
